1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing system, a data processing method, and a data processing program product, and more specifically to a data processing system, a data processing method, and a data processing program product suited for transmitting and receiving data among a plurality of image processing apparatuses connected to a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when data is to be transmitted, the sender is required to set a variety of information related to the receiver and the destination of the transmission. For instance, when a document is to be transmitted by facsimile, the sender is required to set the facsimile number of the receiver, and when an image scanned by a copying machine is to be transmitted by an electronic mail, the sender is required to set the electronic mail address of the receiver. Moreover, with regard to an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) transmission function and an SMB (Server Message Block) transmission function provided in recent copying machines, the setting of information (FTP server address, name of personal computer, etc.) of the receiver by the sender is required. Although, upon the actual transmission, the information of the receiver need not be set every time if the information of the receiver is registered in advance, the information of the receiver is required upon the registration nonetheless.
Thus, when such information of the receiver as a facsimile number, an electronic mail address, an FTP server address, and a name of the personal computer is unknown, data cannot be transmitted to the receiver. Therefore, advance confirmation of the information of the receiver will be required, which is rather a troublesome task for the sender.
In addition, since the sender basically selects as a transmission method one of a facsimile transmission, an electronic mail transmission, an FTP transmission, an SMB transmission, and the like at his convenience, the transmitted data is not in a form that takes the convenience of the receiver into consideration. Sometimes, after receiving the data, the receiver is forced to process the received data in some way later on in order to make the data easier to utilize, and at other times, the receiver may not even be able to perform such processing and thus feel inconvenienced. In order to resolve such inconvenience, the sender must confirm the transmission method desired by the receiver before the transmission.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-20223 describes an image processing apparatus including a transmission means that transmits image information and an image information accumulating means that accumulates at a registered address the image information received by the transmission means, wherein the image processing apparatus is characterized in that it includes a registered address information transmission means that, upon reception of a request from the other end of the communication or upon reception of an address designation command that designates an unregistered address, transmits the information related to the registered address to the other end of the communication according to the request or the address designation command. The image processing apparatus according to Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-20223 is a facsimile machine.
With the image processing apparatus according to Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-20223, upon a facsimile transmission, the facsimile transmission can be performed without the sender making an inquiry to the receiver even when the sender has forgotten the information related to the address registered in the facsimile on the receiver side; however, the sender needs to know the facsimile number of the facsimile on the receiver side. Moreover, since the receiver can only receive the data through a facsimile, the demand of the receiver will not be met when, for instance, the receiver desires an image of a resolution higher than that of an image received by a facsimile.